Mischief Behind the Quills
by Kellie Fay
Summary: Tails discovers that the normally serious Shadow had a fondness for pranks.  The long suffering victim of many an April first Tails decides to take advantage of it.


Mischief behind the quills

By Kellie Fay

Tails discovers that the normally serious Shadow had a fondness for pranks. The long suffering victim of many an April first Tails decides to take advantage of it.

Disclaimer

Sonic and Co belong to SEGA. I just couldn't resist the mischief here.

Please Please Please Review! Especially if you loved it!

Tails sat peacefully at his workshop table absorbed in the new parts just delivered yesterday for some modifications he intended to make to the X-Tornado. Sonic went out for a run which he usually did in the morning, and so he had the workshop all to himself. He hummed quietly to himself while he fitted the two pieces of circuitry together and began to solder them. Once the soldering was done he reached for his smallest screwdriver only to find it wasn't where he thought he left it.

"It's behind your ear, cub," A deep velvet voice said softly.

Tails reached up behind his ear and found the tool. "Oh thanks," he said absently, only then realizing he wasn't alone. He spun around to see Shadow, with a carry bag over his shoulder, leaning against the wall.

"Shadow!" Tails cried out surprised. He almost fell off his stool, but Shadow instantly dropped his bag, moved forward and caught him, righting him on the stool once more. "Shadow you nearly scared the life out of me!" Tails said breathlessly.

"You're lucky I was not sent to abduct you." Shadow said sternly. "Had someone meant you harm you wouldn't have known they were present. You have the parts I require"

Tails flushed embarrassed, but conceded that Shadow had a point. "Yeah I have the parts, and I guess I should be a little more aware of what's going on around me," he said with a sigh. "I'd like to think Cosmo would warn me if she thought I was in danger."

A warm feeling came from the direction of the tree in Tails back yard. Of course Cosmo would find some way to warn him. At the same time he sensed that she thought Shadow sneaking up on him was rather funny. A glance over at the black and red hedgehog told Tails that while Shadow still wore his customary scowl, his eyes showed a satisfaction that to Tails was the equivalent of Sonic laughing at him.

Shadow gave the tree in the back a casual glance, "She probably would, but that does not give you the excuse of being less vigilant." He said. Still Tails swore the hedgehog had a slightly amused expression about his eyes.

"You did that on purpose," Tails accused almost laughing himself. "You deliberately snuck in here to watch me jump when you said something."

"That should teach you to be more alert," Shadow countered but Tails didn't believe it.

"Uh uh," Tails said shaking his head. "You didn't do it to teach me a lesson. You thought it was funny."

"What of it?" Shadow asked scowling again.

Now Tails chuckled. "Nothing, it's just that the idea of you playing a prank on someone for a laugh is a little weird to me."

"I don't find as many opportunities for humor as I used to," Shadow said with a shrug. He turned to face the open door and his expression grew distant.

Tails allowed him a few moments before a little worried he called, "Shadow?" When Shadow blinked and looked back at him, he said cautiously, "You went away there for a minute."

"I was just thinking," Shadow said. His eyes grew distant again, but he kept talking. "Maria loved to play harmless pranks on people. One time we rearranged all the specimen cages in the lab. And there was this one old scientist who had a pipe even though Maria and the professor didn't like it. We hid his tobacco and replaced it with herbs from the hydroponic garden." His eyes closed and a small smile crept up his face losing himself in the memories. "Then there was that April Fool's Day prank we played on the professor."

Surprised that Shadow seemed willing to talk today, Tails asked. What did you do?"

Shadow's eyes snapped open, and a smug expression shown on his face. "Write your full name down," he said his eyes now practically sparkling with mischief.

Puzzled Tails did so. Shadow silently moved up next to the little fox and appropriated the pencil then copied Tails' signature perfectly, but the letters were upside down and backwards.

"Wow!" Tails jumped off his stool to get a mirror. When he came back he closely examined Shadow's copy. "It looks exactly like my handwriting just backwards and upside down. Shadow how did you do that?"

Shadow shrugged, but seemed pleased that he impressed Tails. "I've always been able to do that. I used to write Maria's name like that because I thought it looked nicer. When Maria found out it was only a few weeks until April, so every night she would sneak in and borrow the professor's notes for me to copy that way. The night before April Fool's Day she hid his original notes under her bed and we replaced them with the copies. The professor ranted for the entire morning before we took pity on him and produced the originals. Of course I got indirectly punished because it meant weeks of tests trying to figure out my visual spacial abilities."

Tails laughed at the idea of finding all his diagrams and notes like that. "I'll tell you Shadow I had no idea you were so good at practical jokes."

Shadow shook his head, and his expression turned sadder. "Maria thought up all the pranks. I was just her accomplice," Shadow said sadly. "But they are good memories. It's been a long time since I actually had fun like that."

Sonic always told him that when Shadow had a positive memory he should be encouraged, and something about the way Shadow talked about playing pranks sparked something in Tail's mind. "You know it's going to be April first in two weeks," Tails said, his tails began twitching in excitement.

Shadow noticed Tails change in demeanor, but said nothing letting the kit continue.

"Sonic loves to play pranks on everyone; he's really good at it."

"Is that a warning or are you going somewhere with this?" Shadow asked. He could practically hear wheels turning in Tails' mind."

"I've never been able to trick Sonic, not even once." Tails said with a sigh. He looked then directly at Shadow, and asked with a grin, "How far would you be willing to go to freak Sonic out?"

_To freak out that smug blue pincushion, the idea has merit._ Shadow began to find a reason to smile again. "Tell me what you have in mind."

Knuckles The Echidna had seen many strange things after making friends with Sonic, but Sonic in a panic was a rare one.

"Okay Sonic calm down, and tell me again, what's wrong in the village?"

Sonic tried to control his breathing, and said it again slowly. "Shadow has finally flipped out. He said good morning to me. He's took Amy and Rouge on a picnic. I heard him humming today, and he's smiling."

Knuckles tried to register the inconsistencies. "He took Amy and Rouge on a picnic?"

Sonic nodded. "And he was holding Amy's hand."

Knuckles couldn't resist. "Jealous much?" He asked with a smirk.

"KNUCKLES THAT ISN'T THE POINT! YOU KNOW SHADOW HATES TO TOUCH PEOPLE!" Sonic shouted.

True, Shadow always liked to keep people at arm's length, both figuratively, and physically. "All right, all right. Sorry," Knuckles said then thinking about it he asked, "And Amy didn't find that odd?"

"Nobody else seems to notice anything weird about what Shadow is doing," Sonic said worriedly. "Before I came up here I started to think I was in that weird TV show that kept Ella up at night, the Twilight Zone?"

Knuckles didn't spend a lot of time with Sonic's human friends on Earth, but the name of the show gave away how weird Sonic thought things were. "Okay we'll drop in on Vector, and see if he and the rest of the Caotix will come with us."

Sonic seemed relieved that someone believed him. "Okay," he agreed.

The moment they neared the office Knuckles noticed something odd. There was no annoying flying welcome wagon to greet them. "I wonder where Charmy is," Knuckles said worriedly. "Usually he's tackled friends by now."

They went inside the Caotix office only to see Vector doing paperwork behind his desk and Espio off in a corner meditating. "Hey guys," Knuckles said cheerfully. "Where's the bug?"

Vector looked up and smiled. "Oh Charmy went off to play kickball with Cream, and the others. They're over in meadow by the pond. Shadow was going to show them how to catch tadpoles later."

Both the Echidna and the Hedgehog turned and stared at Vector hearing that. "Did you just say Shadow was going to show them?" Knuckles asked, positive he misunderstood.

"Well yeah, they were having fun together." Vector said puzzled at their reaction.

"Shadow was having fun with Cream and Charmy?" Knuckles repeated.

"Yeah," Vector answered.

"And that seems normal to you?" Sonic demanded.

The big crocodile looked at Sonic confused, and said, "yeah why? Are you feeling okay Sonic?"

Knuckles had the presence of mind to grab Sonic's arm, and say, "Yeah we're fine Vector we gotta go now we'll see you later." With that he pulled Sonic, and they both bolted for the door.

Once outside Sonic took over, and pulled the two of them a good long distance before he stopped. "Hey Sonic," Knuckles asked.

"Yeah?"

"Remember that show you thought you were in?"

"Yeah?"

"I think we're both in it."

"That's not good Knuckles," Sonic said.

Knuckles let out a sigh, but couldn't argue with Sonic there. To hear about Shadow acting oddly was one thing, but for Vector to think it was normal. "We'd better get to that meadow," he said.

Once there Knuckles had to admit that things couldn't be weirder.

Shadow was _laughing_ and playing kickball with Amy Tails, Cream, Cheese and Charmy. Rouge sat up in a tree as a spectator. "The more I see the weirder it gets," Knuckles whispered to Sonic. Unfortunately Shadow with his superior senses heard them right away. "Hi Sonic, hi Knuckles! Want to play? We could use some more for kickball."

_That could not be Shadow. Shadow does not smile, Shadow does not play. Shadow is never never cheerful! That is some clone or robot Eggman made to fool us. Maybe they all are!_ Knuckles thought. Sonic grabbed back onto Knuckles arm prepared to run them both out of there if necessary.

"Um I need Knuckles to help me with something, we'll be back in a little while," Sonic said he began pulling Knuckles away, but Shadow tossed the ball to Tails, and ran after them.

"Wait Sonic I need to tell you something important," Shadow said. Sonic and Knuckles froze at the edge of the meadow waiting to hear hopefully something that would make all the weirdness they saw make some kind of sense.

"What is it Shadow?" Sonic said tensing to run.

Shadow looked deeply into Sonic's eyes then Suddenly Shadow's whole demeanor changed like flipping a switch. The sunny smile turned into a smirk, he leaned back against the tree, and with a perfectly evil look in his eyes he said, "Gotcha faker, April Fool's."

_WHAT?_

That didn't make any sense to Knuckles, except that now Shadow's body language and expressions seemed back to normal. He looked smug about something. From behind Shadow Knuckles heard everyone else laughing their heads off. Tails looked like a bundle of orange and white fur rolling from side to side laughing hysterically.

Sonic's grip on Knuckles arm loosened, and the shocked hedgehog fell right down on his rear end sitting confused. Knuckles wondered if Sonic had finally lost it when he saw Sonic's expression go from shocked, to puzzled to thoughtful. Suddenly a smile began to form on Sonic's face, which turned into a grin. Before Knuckles knew what happened Sonic began to laugh and laugh and laugh.

_They're insane, all of them! What in the name of the Master Emerald is going on?_

Sonic couldn't seem to stop laughing. Finally trying to take some deep breaths he said, "Oh man! That was brilliant Shadow! You totally had me there."

Shadow shrugged. "I can't take credit for this. It was the cub's idea. I just refined some bits of it, and suggested we get some accomplices."

"A good thing too," Amy added. "If Sonic told me you were acting like that, I might have thought to knock you unconscious, and drag you to a doctor."

Tails was still laughing, but now able to talk. "That's why Shadow suggested we tell you guys. He didn't want everyone ganging up on him thinking he lost his mind."

"Which reminds me, I want copies of those pictures Espio," Shadow said looking up into a nearby tree.

To Knuckles surprise the purple Chameleon appeared in the tree. "It will be done," he said jumping down from his perch.

Knuckles finally had the presence of mind to say. "ALL RIGHT SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Knuckles still glowered drying the dishes that Sonic washed. The whole prank somehow turned into an impromptu party. Vanilla and Amy cheerfully cooked dinner, but Sonic insisted that he and Knuckles would serve, and now they were cleaning up the dishes. Tails helped put the dishes away, and Shadow leaned on a nearby wall still looking very smug and superior.

"All right I get why you two recruited the others to play along, but why did you guys leave me out of the loop?" Knuckles asked.

Tails blushed a little. "Well we were going to tell you, but-"Tails seemed to be having trouble explaining.

"Amy and Rouge seemed to think if I could have a sense of humor you could stand to develop one too." Shadow said

Sonic snickered.

Knuckles growled. "This is your fault you know," He muttered to Sonic. "All those years pulling pranks on everybody, someone was bound to try to get you back."

"I've been trying to get Sonic back for years!" Tails said laughing. "I was never able to pull it off. I thought if anyone could pull a prank on Sonic and get away with it, it would be Shadow."

"It was worth it to see the looks on your faces." Shadow said.

Sonic chuckled. "I am never never going to underestimate you again Shadow." He gave an elaborate court bow with plate and rag still in hand. "I concede the day to you. I had a bunch of pranks lined up, but you kind of threw me when you smiled and said good morning. After that I completely forgot it was April Fool's Day."

"An added benefit!" Tails giggled. "You should have heard Vector when he called us, and told us you were heading for the meadow. He said you two looked so totally freaked out he could barely keep a straight face."

"I'm going to kill that croc when I seem him again," Knuckles muttered.

Going into his customary scowl Shadow said, "Knuckles it would be far better for you if you would laugh, and admit defeat. You are so setting yourself up as a target for next year."

"Why am I going to be a target?" Knuckles demanded. "I never pranked anyone before, and I definitely don't like to be pranked. This wasn't funny."

Sonic sighed, and wrung out his rag. "Come on Knuckles it was a great prank. I so completely deserved that, and Tails was so totally brilliant for coming up with it."

"You always told me to look for the opportunity and grab it," Tails said.

Sonic then looked at Shadow, and with an evil grin said, "You do know this means your fair game for next year."

Shadow's smirk returned. "If you think you can outwit me Sonic, I welcome the challenge."

Knuckles growled again folding up the dish towel, and hanging it up. "Crazy competitive hedgehogs with way too much time on their hands," he muttered. "If you guys are done driving me crazy, I'll be going home."

Shadow pulled out an envelope of paper, and handed it to Knuckles. "If you could do me the favor, and ask Rouge to deliver these to Doctor Eggman for me. I don't think I should go over there for a few days."

Knuckles looked at the envelope puzzled. "What is it?"

"Oh something I borrowed from the Doctor." Shadow said, when he saw three pairs of puzzled eyes staring at him, Shadow added. "While Tails and I were planning our little production I felt rather inspired, and decided to make sure the Doctor had an interesting April first as well."

It took Knuckles and Sonic twenty minutes to get Tails to stop laughing long enough to tell them what was so funny.

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS?" Doctor Eggman shouted at his lackeys furious.

"But Doctor," Decoe said timidly. "It is your handwriting."

"I KNOW IT'S MY HANDWRITING, BUT I DID NOT WRITE IT UPSIDE DOWN AND BACKWARDS. I CAN'T EVEN READ IT LIKE THIS. WHAT SANE PERSON WRITES LIKE THAT!"


End file.
